Tag Archives: bad leaders

Disdain for an employer seems to be the common theme for much of this blog. When I think back to why I seem to build a hatred for a working environment, I can usually pin it down to individuals who are difficult to work with and for.

I always remember my first ever supervisor and when I tried to spruce up a presentation, he said that, “We don’t do that kind of thing here. If you want to be creative, go to Design.” That was quite an awful thing to hear in your first real job after trying to show some initiative.

Soon after that, I had a temperamental manager who was a genius and therefore measured your work against his considerable intellect. Naturally, a person could never measure up and I can remember oozing out of his office a number of times after his eruptive review of my output.

Now in this current environment, the pattern repeats. There is a senior consultant whose behavior is frustratingly erratic. At one point, she would eviscerate you for not doing a particular task in front of stakeholders and then be peachy sweet at the end of that meeting.

Her inconsistency in behavior is whispered about among those within the pod and we seek sympathy from each other whenever we got our humps busted. She is a constant reminder of who I don’t want to be.

I don’t know why humans mutate once they’re gathered in a commercial environment. This work-face makes them lesser human beings and the sooner the separation between that and home-face dissolves, the better working life is going to be.

There are is a certain character at work that I have an irrational dislike and mistrust. To describe him, it’s best to picture a snake. He seeps into fissures to find shelter whenever the thought of danger arises. He is the greatest of survivors, able to mesmerize people with his speech – the proverbial forked tongue. He slithers across the rubble of our organization, seeking sustenance from everyone’s cast offs, or in the worst case, to consume the project that you’ve nurtured when you’re away from the nest.

This man has risen to a reasonably senior level and continues on his deceitful ways. He is despised by many yet adored by others. Although he hasn’t wronged me directly, I never feel that I can trust him and choose to keep my distance. Much like other animals, I think he senses whenever there is unease amongst those around him and as a result is selective of his coterie.

Those of us who have keep our distance are quietly waiting for a time when this snake slips into a crack too narrow and meets his doom.